Operations Engineer

There was a time when all of America believed that the future of the physical world could be radically different. The engineers of the mid-1900s put a man on the moon in eight years, designed and built planes and submarines from scratch in under three, and conceived of building things we wouldn’t even be able to dream up today.

Today, the last of the engineers who imagined and built these systems are retiring. As they go, we lose not only the engineering knowledge gained from their decades of imagination and trial-and-error, but also the spirit that made that imagination possible.

Amca is working day-in and day-out to restore America’s ability to engineer anything that our critical systems depend on, and reinvigorate the cycle of creation that allows imagination to shape physical reality. We rapidly develop and manufacture new critical components and subsystems required to build and sustain the planes, military vehicles, and core infrastructure America needs. By restoring the capability of our antiquated supply chains, we increase the country’s capacity to imagine and realize new systems, and make a physical world that looks very different from today.

Overview  

The Operations Engineer keeps Amca's factories running and growing. You will solve manufacturing problems as they come up, build the processes and systems that let production scale, and manage the suppliers behind them. EH&S is part of the job: you build safety into everything you design and own hazardous material handling on the floor. This is a hands-on role for an engineer who wants to move between the production floor, the ERP and a supplier's shop in the same week. 

Responsibilities  

Manufacturing Problem Solving  

• Be the first call when production stalls, whether the cause is a process, a machine, a material, a supplier or a system. 

• Get to root cause with structured methods (5 Whys, fishbone, FMEA) and put fixes in place that hold, not workarounds. 

• Track recurring issues, rework and downtime, and close out the patterns behind them. 

Processes and Systems  

• Map workflows, find bottlenecks and failure points, and redesign them to handle more volume and headcount. 

• Own and improve our internal ERP: fix data errors, broken workflows and missing fields, working with software engineering.  

• Build what the ERP is missing, starting with EH&S: hazardous material flags, SDS records, supplier certifications and training records, so materials are traceable from purchase to disposal. 

• Build tools and dashboards (Excel, SQL, Python, Power BI) to analyze capacity, cycle time, cost and output. 

Environmental, Health and Safety  

• Own hazardous material handling end to end: receiving, storage, use, tracking and disposal, with procedures and training the build teams run day to day. 

• Keep us compliant with OSHA, EPA, NFPA and applicable state and local rules, including RCRA and DOT waste requirements, permits and reporting. 

• Run hazard assessments, inspections and incident investigations, and keep emergency plans for fires and spills current. 

• Build role-based EH&S training and track it so records are audit-ready. 

• Act as a point of contact for regulators, inspectors, insurers and auditors, and bring in outside specialists when deeper expertise is needed. 

Supplier Management  

• Find, qualify and onboard suppliers and contractors on quality, delivery, cost and EH&S requirements. 

• Walk jobs with vendors, negotiate pricing and hold them to schedule. 

• Run scorecards, corrective actions and second sourcing for critical parts and materials. 

Basic Qualifications  

• Bachelor's degree in industrial, mechanical, manufacturing, chemical or a related engineering field, or equivalent experience. 

• 2+ years as an operations, industrial, process or manufacturing engineer, ideally in a manufacturing environment. 

• A track record of solving production problems on the floor with structured root cause analysis. 

• Working knowledge of OSHA general industry standards and hazardous material handling. 

Preferred Qualifications  

• Experience in aerospace or defense manufacturing, including AS9100 or ITAR environments. 

• Experience as an industrial, operations, process or manufacturing engineer in a developmental manufacturing environment.  

• Strong project management skills and effective communication across multi-disciplinary teams. 

• EH&S experience such as running safety programs, RCRA or DOT hazardous waste, environmental permits or industrial hygiene.

Annual Salary Range

$100,000—$160,000 USD

This position requires use of information which is subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). All applicants must be U.S. persons within the meaning of ITAR. ITAR defines a US person as: any individual who is granted U.S. citizenship; or. any individual who is granted U.S. permanent residence ("Green Card" holder); or. any individual who is granted status as a "protected person" under 8 U.S.C 1324b(a)(3).

The Advanced Manufacturing Company of America prohibits discrimination or harassment based on the following categories: race, color, religion, religious creed (including religious dress and grooming practices), national origin, ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition (including cancer and genetic characteristics), genetic information, marital status, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, or related medical conditions), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age (40 years and over), sexual orientation, veteran and/or military status, protected medical leaves (requesting or approved for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act or the California Family Rights Act), domestic violence victim status, political affiliation, and any other status protected by state or federal law.